


Winter Winds

by gabriel



Series: Orchestra AU [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: College AU, M/M, orchestra AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-18
Updated: 2012-02-18
Packaged: 2017-10-31 09:58:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/342725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gabriel/pseuds/gabriel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's winter, and Dean's only trying to escape the cold when he runs into Castiel in the school auditorium, on stage, and playing the violin.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Winter Winds

The snow's falling outside, and there's no sign of it letting up anytime soon, and Dean thinks to himself, _What the fuck am I doing out in this kind of weather?_ Truth is, he got more than a little annoyed with his roommate, Gabriel, and decided to book it to wherever the hell he could get to.

Turns out, the auditorium isn't that far from his dorm, and with the snow showing no sign of letting up, and because it's actually fucking cold outside, why the hell not?

He pushes the doors open, surprised that the auditorium is one of the buildings that always remains open. He makes his way inside, pulling his gloves off of his hands and shoving them into his pockets before pulling his hands to his face and cupping them around his mouth, blowing warm breath into them. His fingers could fall off at any second, he thinks.

The building’s quiet and cold, but definitely not as cold as it is outside, so he pushes further into it, entering the main room where the stage is. The lights are on, and there's music, soft and sweet, and Dean finds his attention drawn to center-stage. In the middle sits a man, dark hair, pale skin, jeans and what looks like an old t-shirt. But this barely even registers for Dean, because the music coming from the instrument that's cradled under his chin sounds like it could be from heaven itself.

The man sways as he pulls the bow across the taut strings of the violin, not even noticing that Dean had entered the hall of the auditorium, seeing as how his back is turned toward him. He taps his foot along with the music, obviously lacking a metronome, or because he prefers to tap his foot along, and then, he starts singing, almost too quietly, and Dean's knees absolutely _do not_ go weak.

His voice is smooth and, hell, beautiful, and Dean wants to be right on that stage with him, playing along with him, but it's not like he brought his cello with him. What kind of fool would drag their cello along with them in a small snow storm if they really hadn't any plans to play it in the first place? So instead, Dean moves closer toward the stage and takes the seat closest to him, and just watches the man play his violin, and listens to him sing.

He watches his fingers move along the neck of the violin, the bow sliding across the strings, and how his hair hangs in his face when he slightly turns toward Dean, but it shields his eyes, and he's turning away again.

" _And my head told my heart, let love grow…_ " It's almost too soft, but Dean can still make out the words, and he can't help but to hum along with the song, tapping his foot against the floor along with the man's, and before he knows it, he's singing the words along with the man.

And then the man freezes, and pulls the bow away from the violin, and Dean throws his hand over his mouth as the man turns to face him, dropping the violin at his side. His eyes are wide, and blue ­- fuck, they're really blue - and his mouth opens and closes as if he's trying to speak. And Dean, Dean can't even begin to think about forming words, because this man staring at him is just, wow. He's gorgeous; all wide-eyed with messy, dark hair. The man straightens out and his eyes narrow at Dean as he holds the bow out toward Dean, pointing at him with it.

"Who're you, and what are you doing here?"

Dean stands and moves toward the stage, staring up at the man with his arms crossed across his chest, and if he thought the man's singing voice was amazing, then he was definitely shocked now, because he really hadn't expected _this_ voice to come out of someone to small. It's low, gravelly, and _shit_ , it's great.

"Dean. Dean Winchester. Sorry for interr-"

"You’re my brother's roommate," the man's eyebrows raise and he bends over to put his violin in its case, putting the bow along with it, and he snaps it closed, grasping the handle before he stands.

"What?"

"Gabriel, he's my brother. Loud, brash, annoying. I can only guess why you're out in this storm, seeing as how you're rooming with him," he smiles at Dean, and Dean's heart does not melt whatsoever, no matter what anyone says.

Dean laughs softly and brings his hand up to run at the back of his neck, shrugging.

"Yeah, the guy gets pretty annoying. I just had to get away from him for a little while, and I thought I'd come here. I didn't expect to find anyone else here though."

The man smiles again and moves to the end of the stage, taking the stairs down to join Dean in the front to stand beside him. He's shorter than Dean, but not by much, and when Dean moves closer without really meaning to, the man smells _good_. Like vanilla and oranges, and god, it smells amazing.

"Castiel," the man holds his hand out toward Dean, and Dean reciprocates, gripping it firmly and giving it a hard shake.

"Angel names run in the family?"

Castiel's cheeks color slightly, the red definitely bringing out his eyes just a little bit more, and Dean smiles, hardly able to contain the joy that yeah, he had definitely made this guy blush, even if it was just for recognizing his namesake.

"Me, Gabriel, Michael, Balthazar, Lucifer. Cousins and brothers, almost all with angel names," he shrugs and laughs softly, and it almost sounds like bells to Dean. And fuck. Dean's already head over heels for this guy, and he had just met him, and what the fuck is he supposed to do about this now? And his brother's his roommate, and _shit_ this is just going to be really awkward from now on.

"I have a brother. Sam. Bratty kid, but he's great."

That earns another smile out of Castiel, and Dean smiles with him as Castiel turns his back to Dean.

"So, wanna get out of here? There's a place in the cafeteria that has great tea."

Dean nods, a little too eagerly he thinks, as Castiel grabs his coat from one of the seats and pulls it on, hardly releasing his violin to do so because it's probably his baby, like Dean's cello and car are to him. Castiel walks ahead of Dean, and Dean follows him outside, shivering when the cold air hits him, and immediately moves to Castiel's side. Castiel moves closer to him too, until their arms are touching, and Dean swears that he can feel the warmth of his body through the layers of his clothes, and by the slight flush of Cas' cheeks, he thinks that Cas is thinking the same thing. Or it could be the cold, who knows, but that doesn't mean that Dean has to get his hopes up.

Dean kicks at the snow as they walk, and neither of them speak, but Castiel hums the song that he had been playing back in the auditorium. He knows the song, loves the song, and loves the band, even though they're usually the kind of band that Dean listens to often, since he's into classic rock and definitely not indie folk. Seriously, he's not a hipster like most of the kids on campus are.

"Mumford and Sons," he smiles and looks over at Castiel, who has stopped humming to turn and face him, a shy smile on his face, and Dean smiles back.

"Yeah, they're my favorite band."

"One of my favorites. They're great."

Castiel nods and then they're quiet again, neither of them speaking until they reach the doors of the cafeteria. It doesn't take them that long to get there, seeing as the auditorium and the cafeteria really aren't all that far away from each other, so they make it there within ten minutes, even through the snow.

The building's warm, and Dean can't help but grin when he notices the red tinge of Castiel's cheeks and nose, and the way that he's pulled the collar of his coat up in a poor attempt to shield his face; his hair is more mussed than before, and the strands hang loosely in front of his eyes. Dean hand jerks at his side, resisting the urge to raise it and brush the hair from Castiel's eyes. Castiel walks ahead of him, toward a small area that Dean's never really paid any mind to, and when he doesn't follow after him, Castiel waves him over, and he hurriedly moves to catch up with him.

Dean never knew that were so many different types of tea, but then again, he's more of a coffee drinker.

"What'll you have, Dean?" Cas turns to look at him, smiling, and the way Dean's name rolls off of his tongue, in that sweet, gravelly voice... Okay, maybe he should have left when he had first laid eyes upon Castiel.

"Whatever you're having," Dean finally manages, voice a little more rough than before - he blames the cold - and he clears his throat as he shoves his hand into his back pocket to retrieve his wallet, but Cas waves him off.

"Don't worry, I’ve got this."

He orders the tea, some sort of mix of vanilla and something else, and that's probably why the guy smells like vanilla in the first place. If he knows this place, then he must come here often, and he probably orders the same thing every time. So, yeah, that's probably why he smells like vanilla. Now, if Dean can only find out why he smells like oranges as well. Castiel pays for their drinks and turns to Dean to hand him a cup of hot tea, and Dean takes it, staring into it with a look on his face before he looks up at Castiel, who's smiling at him.

"It's hot tea, Dean. Please tell me that you've had it before."

"I'm from the South. Cold tea's all we drink down there," he laughs softly, but Castiel laughs with him and walks past him to sit at one of the tables. He sets his violin case onto the table along with his tea, and Dean sits in front of him, still staring into the cup of tea.

"It's not gonna bite you. Just try it."

Dean lifts the cup to his lips, blowing on it before taking a sip, and damn, that's some good tea. He hums softly and closes his eyes, taking another sip before setting the cup back down onto the table. Castiel's smiling at him when he opens his eyes, and Dean can't help the laugh that bubbles from his chest, thinking that he just really, really wants Castiel to smile at him like that more.

"It's good."

Castiel nods and takes a sip from his tea before he speaks, "So, you play the cello?"

"How did- Oh, Gabriel, huh?"

Castiel nods again, the smile still on his lips, and Dean takes a sip from his tea and sets the cup back onto the table.

"He mentions you sometimes. Says that you're annoying and you listen to your music too loud, and how sometimes that he wishes you would play your instrument somewhere else besides the room."

"Yeah, well your brother's a jerk," Dean takes another sip from his tea and Castiel laughs, nodding slightly in agreement with him. But most brothers are jerks, aren't they? Dean's a jerk, and sure, Sam can be a jerk sometimes, but Dean can't really see Castiel being a jerk. He's all smiles and a good attitude, a great singer, and just amazing at the violin. Maybe he's the odd one out in the family, the black sheep.

The two of them talk for a while longer, about their families, about how they came to play the instruments they play; just mostly about their lives, and it's kinda weird, because Dean never shares anything so personal with someone that he's hardly just met.

"Wow," he breathes, setting his empty cup down, "I've never spilled my guts to someone so easily."

Castiel flushes, his cheeks turning a lovely shade of red, and he turns his attention to his violin case, opening and closing the clasp repeatedly, a sort of nervous tick, Dean guesses.

"Yeah... Neither have I," Castiel is still smiling when he looks back up at Dean, blue eyes wide and hair in perfect disarray, and Dean can't help but leaning forward and closing the gap between them, pressing his lips to Castiel's.

Castiel makes a small noise of surprise, but he doesn't pull away; he leans forward, removing his hand from the violin case to grasp at the lapel of Dean's coat, tugging him closer, farther over the table. Someone in the background clears their throat and they both hurriedly pull away, cheeks red and breathing a little quicker than before.

"So, I - uh - have to go," Castiel speaks quickly, standing up and grabbing his violin case and pushing away from the table. He only stops when Dean stands and grabs him by the wrist of his coat.

"Hey, when do I get to see you again?"

Castiel laughs softly and it sounds like bells again, and he pulls his hand away from Dean's grasp, pressing his palm flat to Dean's chest, and Dean swears that he isn't imagining the way Castiel's fingers move across his chest, pressing against him with a little more force than necessary; he likes it.

"I'll see you around, Dean." Castiel presses a quick kiss to his lips before turning away and heading out of the door and into the snow. He disappears into the dark in a matter of seconds, and Dean's left there wondering when he really is going to see Castiel again.

Maybe he'll ask Gabriel for his number.


End file.
